Philippians - Lesson 3

I. Missing Philippians

In our third of three introductory lectures on Philippians, we're going to look now at the theological claims that Paul will make or theological postures that we find in Philippians that we should be alert to as we dive into the letter. But I want to start with this question: what if we didn't have Philippians? What would we be missing? Well, I think we would miss aspects of the character of God and the character of certain individual believers.

What we find in Philippians, perhaps more clearly than any of Paul's other letters, is this self-emptying God. This picture of a God who is fully God and yet takes up human flesh. God's character is cruciform, and Philippians shows us this in language that excites our imagination, that's memorable, and yet language so deep we can spend every day for the rest of our lives meditating on it.

It reminds me of Jesus' teaching in John, chapter 14, where he says, "If anyone has seen me, they've seen the Father." And Philippians fills that out for us in special ways.

We also find in Philippians an explanation of our salvation that is robust in its description of the Incarnation, something that Paul often doesn't spend a lot of time on. But here in Philippians, the Incarnation includes humiliation, humility—but in Paul's day it would have been humiliation and obedience—but also exaltation, right? Not leaving us in humiliation, but leaving us with exaltation and a hope, a sure hope.

If we didn't have Philippians, we might not have as clear a picture of the character of a believer as one who is self-giving, even as the Lord is self-giving. We might not have a full appreciation, an understanding of our sufferings now, which testify—our sufferings now testify to a Savior who is returning.

Philippians, in its compact kind of way, tells us Jesus' story in such a way that it impacts and molds and shapes our story. Our past doesn't define us, our present pains are not the final word; it shows us that hope that is to come. But it shows us not just the character of believers as individuals, but Philippians also shows us the character of believers together.

II. Theological Focuses

This unity of God's people, Philippians stresses this in so many different ways, always in connection with who Jesus Christ is and our faith in him. And so in every chapter in this short letter, Paul uses terms from the word group koinonia; this partnership, this participation, this unity that we have together as believers is the self-giving unity that is based on Christ's own self-giving. So as we enter into the study of Philippians, we want to pay attention to the theological reflection that Paul presents.

We want to look at God's activities in creation and salvation that then reflect on how we are to understand our lives today based on those truths. Paul sees the believer today as embracing a mindset that privileges others above self. All of this is rooted not in Paul's idea of what would make a happy community, but rather looking at Jesus' very nature, being in very nature God before time, before creation, before—yeah, before—that Jesus is very nature God and that with the Incarnation, the obedient death, resurrection, exaltation, and giving of the Spirit, believers then exemplify that. And Paul says you exemplify that by giving your gifts, in this case, money and time with Epaphroditus, giving it sacrificially, sharing in the ministry.

As we enter into the study of Philippians, my hermeneutical assumptions, that is the assumptions I'm going to make about interpretation, include that Paul is the author, he's known by the Philippians, but the Philippians themselves aren't reading Paul's other letters like we're able to read Paul's other letters, though they know Paul's theology. I can only know Paul's theology by reading his other letters, but I am assuming my hermeneutical assumption is that I can use Paul's other letters because they represent Paul's thoughts, and the Philippians, although they didn't have those letters necessarily, would have known Paul's developed thought that we see in his other letters.

Another hermeneutical assumption that I'm making is that Paul's theology is consistent in his writings. So we can use other letters, Galatians, 1 Corinthians, for example, we can use those to help us understand what Paul says to the Philippians.

A third hermeneutical assumption is that the book of Acts is useful for us in building the picture of how Paul does his ministry and specifically how Paul did ministry in Philippi.

And then a final hermeneutical assumption is that meaning is found within the context. So I wouldn't locate meaning in a word, but meaning in the words in a sentence. And I look at words in a sentence and I look at the context, and then I go back and I look at the words as they're used. And some people call this the hermeneutical spiral, where you're looking at context, you're looking at individual word meanings, the words as they play out in a sentence, and you continue to allow the context and the language to inform each other. So those are the assumptions that I am using as we enter into the study of Philippians.

The other assumption that I'm going to make is that Paul brings the message of the gospel to the Philippians that will challenge the status quo. So for example, the gospel will challenge the world's definition of success. Paul will hold what the Philippians would think of as a counterintuitive view, a view that would scorn public honor in order to defend Christ's honor.

I'm also very interested in looking at Christian formation. And so one thing we'll be quite alert to is how Paul emphasizes the Christian life. Yes, he will talk about the way that one receives forgiveness of sins through Christ's death, but Paul's also very interested in how they're going to live out their daily lives: steadfastness, blamelessness, submission to others, and over all of this, joy, which is sadly something not often talked about when we think of Christian formation, which is terrible because Philippians is all about joy, the joy of living in Christ.

Paul is interested in developing community, and he recognizes the challenges to community building, and we'll be alert to those as we read through. When Paul talks about unity, he is not talking about sameness. Okay, being like-minded doesn't mean that everyone likes the color red or has the same football team that they support. Unity means that there is a safety in expressing your ideas, knowing that in Christ you'll be heard, and you'll be loved, and you'll all work together.

Paul understands that this unity is because Christ chose us, that Christ equips us in the Spirit to be able to live in a unity that's based on him and not on our own preferences.

In fact, what we'll find is Paul's emphasis on participating in Christ's life, the union with Christ, participating in Christ's life over and over again in these four chapters. This is what we'll hear. This is, in fact, Paul only uses the word faith twice. He only uses the word grace once, but nevertheless the letter is saturated with the ideas of faith and grace. It's union with Christ, that language that expresses the grace of God towards us and our response in faith.

In Christ, or a similar phrase, is used about 21 times in this letter. So the emphasis is participation in Christ, seeing Christ's life, death, resurrection, ascension, the exaltation, and coming, the return of Jesus, the second coming. All of that informing how we understand our life today, our worldview, and our actions.

In fact, you could say that Paul starts at the end, the day of Christ, and then in a timeline sense he starts at the end, and then from that he builds the picture of the now. Because at the very beginning of the letter he mentions the day of Christ and how we're all, in a sense, moving towards that. But that's the picture from right out of the gate that Paul presents to us.

And so eschatology, that study of the end times, is woven into this book. To understand who Jesus is, we have to know what's coming so that we can act properly now. And acting properly now is because we're in Christ. So we will look at specifics, being in Christ, in each of these chapters as we go forward.

In conclusion, Paul's theology, as he thinks about who God is, as he describes the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, the salvation plan of God, none of that is separated from his views on the believer's spiritual growth. It's just all woven together. Things that we tend to separate now and think of as theology and then spiritual formation, for Paul, are integrated together. To speak of the Holy Spirit, that theological category of the Holy Spirit, is to speak about the Holy Spirit's empowering presence in the life of a believer. To speak Christologically is to speak of being in Christ. To speak of the Father is to speak of this glorious, gracious plan of salvation, this plan that overcomes all evil and will make all things new.

There is a beauty in Philippians. I think of it as like a treasure trove of gospel good news. Words of comfort, encouragement, exhortation. He sent that to the believers in Philippi. We hear the same today. So as we look closely at Paul's teaching, the biographical notes in the letter, and try to build a picture of the Philippian church there in the 1st century, we're always going to keep an eye on the church today, to the men and women who want a deeper relationship with God. They want a stronger foundation for their walk. They want a clear vision of how God is working in the world. And we'll see that in the specific examination of the passages that we find in the letter to the Philippians.

III. Letter to Real People

Student: So as you think about the letter of Philippians being written to real people, how does it help you in your hermeneutical assumptions to look at it as a letter to real people rather than primarily a theological document?

Dr. Cohick: Realizing that Paul has written to real people reminds me that what Paul says he's expecting can be lived out. And sometimes when theology is talked about, it can move to levels of abstraction where we talk about ideas—love, peace. Well, Paul will talk about that in chapter 4. But these categories, when they are abstracted from real life, can take non-God-like shapes. Love can be turned to self-love and peace can be turned to my ideas only.

You know, our own selves and sinful inclinations can fit these abstract terms into a storyline that suits only us. And so by thinking and reminding myself that Paul is writing to real individuals who can really do what Paul is asking to be done and are really being transformed by this power that is from God, it keeps me from abstracting up and reminds me of the realness, which then—my next step is I look around in my life or in the life of my community and I compare them. I put a mirror up to see, am I also experiencing the transformation that should be happening, the maturity that should be happening.